At the very start of her teenage years, Irina Shayk unexpectedly lost her father when his health quietly then quickly declined. "He was the healthiest man alive, and at 44, out of the blue, he was coughing for a while, then got pneumonia and died," she told Vogue of his tragic premature death. "Me, my mom, and my sister were left. Three women." Shayk was 14 years old. She said the loss was staggering, saying, "[H]e was the love of our lives." Her mother was especially distraught after his passing, having spent 21 years of her life by his side, 14 of them married. "She was terrified," the supermodel recalled. "But I think what is very special about the Russian woman, and women in general, is they always shape up in the right moment," Shayk opined.
Raised by her mother and two grandmothers from then on, the model learned how to survive without the help of a man. "You have to learn how to put a nail in the wall, how to hang the curtains," Shayk told Harper's Bazaar. As difficult as losing her father was, she said, "[I]t was really inspiring to grow up in a women's family because you learn so much from the strong women in your life."
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